Vacation Food Stories

So many good stories to tell from vacation to Florida--my family is either eating or drinking or talking about food; very little else!!--but I'll start with the one about Five Guys. We were on our way to the Edison House--yeah, whatever; I guess there is a banyan tree there that is kind of interesting. Anyway, we had barely pulled out of the gate when Deb started to talk from the back seat about the Five Guys she saw on the main road and "oh, I hear it's really good" and "oh, I really love burgers," on and on. Dad didn't help the situation by talking about how good the grilled mushrooms are and the grilled onions. And then.... "Should we give up on Edison House and just go have burgers for lunch?" YES!!

Oh my gosh what an amazing burger! Deb is much more of a burger fan than I am, but this is the best of its breed. Two fresh patties with cheese in the middle topped with my choice of fresh toppings. I chose lettuce, tomato, pickles and ketchup. These burgers taste like the ones we used to get as kids, before too much mass production or over-thinking took over hamburgers. Just fresh, good, perfectly grilled, and on a toasted plain bun. Fries were perfect; not too big, not too small, perfect balance of crisp and tender.  The giveaway bulk peanuts in little paper pockets is cute, too.

Five Guys started in 1986 in the Washington, D.C. area and now has over 450 stores in 30 states. None, sadly, however, in Boston, where we prefer to pay way too much money for over-engineered burgers that are not half as good. Their website says there are more than 250,000 ways to order a Five Guys burger; Deb and I could well make our way through many of those options if we had a Five Guys near by to try.

Oink oink

Seriously. The special rib eye steak that took up half the plate covered in sauteed mushroom sauce with new spring potato mash and grilled zucchini. Gone! And, as if that wasn't enough--two desserts: a unbelievable tres leche cake with real whipped cream and a warm peach cobbler. Pig. Pig! PIG!! The fact that I shared the desserts with others does not undo the swine factor on my part. Good thing that during the chow fest, a friend and I talked about training for the half-marathon. Good golly Miss Molly!

Dust of the Street

So sad. I had this on my list for quite a while and then finally made it today for a holiday work lunch. Lovely to be hosted by our boss--really a nice thing to do and was fun to be with our senior team. But...so underwhelmed with the Salt of the Earth. L'Espalier's sidekick for more casual fare was way too casual--especially with the service. Food was fine, but not memorable for the prices. Reminded me of a slighly more upscale TGIF. Dessert was sad...thin pastry cream, hard crust on the poached pear tart. I think my table companions enjoyed their apple crisp with ginger ice cream. But alas.... I won't be rushing back.  I am, however, looking forward to a Cheese Night at the more refined mother ship in early January--stay tuned.

Dessert Party

I am so sleepy right now after being up until past 1:00 am last night making profiteroles and pastry cream for today's dessert party at work. I had forgotten how long and strenuous a process is to beat pastry cream into the thick smooth goo that people die for. But it was worth it! (The puffs in the pic are not mine--forgot my camera--but mine were as lovely.)

My chocolate cream, however, while it tasted good, the texture was a little grainy and the butter was seeping out when I unwrapped it this am. What happened? I'll have to do some research with famed food scientist Harold McGee to see if I can understand why the emulsion broke. Chocolate is tricky--my melted chocolate turned to chocolate powder when I tried to microwave it today, too, so I didn't get the nice drizzle of chocolate on top that I had planned. And, I should have dusted them with powdered sugar. But the taste and the texture was perfect. Many people were made very happy, including my boss, which is a good sign, I think.

Truly need to sleep now. Cannot cook late into the night like I used to!

Sunday Sandwiches

I recently read a chat on a food blog cooking shows had become so lowbrow because so many were including episodes on sandwiches. Oh my. Let me say that I emphatically disagree with this blogger.

A perfect sandwich is a work of art and love and personal tastes that is as delectable and choice as any sweated over meal. The best sandwiches are made in the spirit and with the same philosophy of real Italian cooking: few ingredients, simple technique, but every single element done with perfection. Fresh is key: fresh bread, condiments, meats, cheese, and vegetables. And then, the technique is simple as well, but if hurried or done without attention to detail, what could be profound is prosaic.

The whole break in the middle of the weekend is our time to reconnect from our separate chores, relax and talk, and eat something delicious that is made for each of us. We love a lot of the same foods, but we also have different tastes. A sandwich lets us each have what we like while still eating together. What can be more perfect?

Our Sunday sandwiches are made with love and a committed attention to detail. Start with the bread; we usually choose a fresh sesame Scalia; toothsome, a little chewy, and just dense enough to hold up the fillings but without getting in the way. So many sandwiches one orders out are made with bread that fights to be the star of the show. For me, the bread is always the supporting actor, never the lead. Scalia plays its supporting role with style.

Next, the fillings. Today, we opted for Dietz and Watson sliced deli roast beef. Not being a lover of roast beef that is still bleeding, the D and W is cooked perfectly; pink and rare in the middle, but still cooked--not raw. For cheese, muenster. Swiss is good, too, I think. But the muenster was on sale and looked good; it was. Then the vegetables: thin cucumber slices, slightly thicker tomato slices. One might choose onions, another pickles. All good--but not for me. (I love pickles, but I usually put them on the side.)

Next, the technique. I learned a very important trick while I was an assistant chef at Formaggio South End and making sandwiches: put the spreads and condiments on the meat; not the bread. Also, season the vegetables before putting them on the sandwich (or in the salad, but that's a different post). Let the layering begin. Start with the bread; to keep the bread from being too dry, a very thin coating of good fresh salted butter provides a good baste. Next layer, vegetables. Lettuce is always a good standard--butter lettuce is best for flavor and texture; iceberg is sadly bereft of anything related to flavor and is too clunky for a sandwich. Microgreens and other greens like arugula make good sandwiches, but these delicate morsels are best if treated like a topping instead of a bed. We chose cucumber slices, both for a nice crunch as well as a fresh flavor.

Next layer: the meat--never flat; give it a little fold in the middle to give the bite a bit more heft. Add here the condiment of choice: mustard (my choice); horseradish (Deb's). Chutney (for turkey--yum!) A slice of cheese, tomato slices, salt and pepper. Top piece of bread. Serve a handful of chips (or 2) on the side and a cold microbrew. Perfection.

Saturday Lunch

I love lunch on the weekends. When we are in Ptown, we opt for yummy sandwhiches we make at home with any combination of good foods we have:  turkey, chutney, and bread from Connie's; ham, grainy mustard, butter lettuce; fresh tomato, mozzarella and basil. And always, we pair our sandwiches with a glass of beer. Perfect.

Today, errand day became an excuse to stop at our favorite Greek restaurant in Needham: Farm Grille and Rotisserie. Seriously Greek--half the other diners were Greek, and we watched Greek tv while we waited for our meals. Lamb, chicken, and beef kebabs with tzatziki, chickpea salad, and feta. Among the best feature was the thick, chewy grilled pita that served as a bed for the shaved lamb. Seriously good.

We each had two sides, and I chose chickpea salad (fine--as good as mine) and green bean saute that was made of fresh green beans cooked beyond all nutritional value but with the full earthy flavor. My grandmother used to make green beans with bacon in the pressure cooker. They cooked for hours, the beans were a brownish green and they were to die for delicious. I will never taste beans like that again, but these were close at least in texture and earthiness. The tomato broth was fresh and light and the Greek oregano in everything was heady. I was envious of Deb's spinach with orzo: lemony and with that amazing oregano.

Errand day and food shopping

Now I know our lives are getting back to normal after the months of planning the HRC cvent; we are food shopping today for the week's menus. After weeks of eating at restaurants or take out every night, I'm looking foward to a couple nights this week of just cooking and eating at home.

On the menu: chili spiced pork loin in the slow cooker with roasted brussels sprouts for Tuesday; and Morrocan chicken stew with sweet potatoes and couscous for Thursday.

Also, planning my offering for the work holiday dessert party on Tuesday: classic profiteroles with vanilla creme and drizzled with chocolate. (Deb saved me from way out-doing myself with too many filling options. One perfect profiterole will be... perfect, she says. I almost always listen to what Deb says because she is always right!)

Another menu I'm tossing around: the Marketing Committee celebration party at our house next Sunday. This team did an amazing job on creating the marketing materials for the HRC dinner and I want to reward them. More to come...